  When Dick and Sandy sighted the dog team of what they believed to be the “white Eskimo,” it could not have been more than a half a mile away, though distances in the north are deceptive. “We ought to catch up with them in twenty minutes,” Constable Sloan had said. But they were not so fortunate. Either the “white Eskimo” had seen his pursuers and was therefore driving faster, or his dogs were faster at a normal pace of travel than the police dogs. At any rate, after thirty minutes, fast driving they were bumping along over a rough ice floor, the team ahead nowhere in sight. “It can’t be far to the sea shore now, can it?” panted Sandy. “No,” Dick replied, “we are probably traveling across a frozen bay now. The ice may be hundreds of feet thick here, you know, and the sun never gets warm enough to melt that much ice.” “It takes awfully cold weather to freeze salt water,” Sandy opined. “I should say it does!” agreed Dick emphatically, “but you know most of the ice around here is from old glaciers, and is fresh water ice. The glaciers slide down to the sea shore and break off, making ice-bergs and huge ice floes.” “Hey! Look out!” Sandy’s cry of warning came too late. Dick had been so interested in his explanation of the ice formations that he had not noticed how close he was to a treacherous slope of glassy ice. He slipped, and before he could catch himself he had whizzed down, flat on his back, to come up with a bump in a hard snowdrift at the bottom of the slope. “Are you hurt?” called Sandy anxiously, as Dick crawled out of the snow, sat up and began shaking himself. “No, but I’ve got my parka full of snow,” Dick called back, “and it’s not a very pleasant feeling with melted snow trickling down your chest.” The policemen had stopped upon seeing Dick’s accident, and they now waited until he had climbed back up the slippery slope before they went on. Dick was not much the worse for the spill in the snow, since the heat of his body under the warm clothing soon dried up the snow that had seeped in. He forgot the accident in anticipation of the excitement ahead, for at any moment all hands expected to sight the dog team of Fred Mistak. A breeze had sprung up, blowing in their faces, and they all could feel the nearness of the sea by the dampness in the air. Then, suddenly, they rounded a huge heap of snow-covered ice to come upon a vast bay of open water and a most discouraging sight. A mile out to sea, in native boats, they could see their quarry vanishing toward a snow-capped, rocky island. Even as they watched they saw one tiny figure raise up and wave a defiant hand at them. “Well, he’s flown the coop this time,” said Corporal McCarthy through his teeth, “but we’re not beaten yet—not by a long shot. Sloan, bring Sipsa here.” Dick and Sandy followed the Constable and the Eskimo guide to Corporal McCarthy’s side. “Tell Sipsa we must get Eskimo boats immediately,” was the policeman’s command. “Enough boats to carry all of us along with our provisions, dogs, and sledges.” When Sloan had explained this to Sipsa, the Eskimo shook his head at first, but finally seemed to offer some encouragement. “He says he’s not sure he can find any Eskimos very near here,” Sloan turned to Corporal McCarthy. “But he’ll try. He says we’ll have to take a chance following the coast line.” “Alright, then, we’ll take the chance. We’ve got to have boats.” But luck was with them, for they had not gone on a mile when they came upon a dozen igloos in a sheltered nook. The tribesmen were at sea, hunting seals, and the women were scattered along the shore skinning and cutting up the meat. “We are in luck in some ways,” called Constable Sloan, cheerfully, as they drew up at the igloos. “Now if we can only trade these fellows out of a few native boats, we’ll be luckier still. Here comes a couple of men.” The two Eskimos approaching from the beach, were evidently not at all afraid of the white men, for they came up smiling, perfectly unconscious that they put forth a bad appearance with their clothing covered with seal blubber, grease and blood. Sipsa immediately began talking with them, Sloan permitting him to do the dickering for the boats. When the policemen had opened one of the packs and revealed some fine, shiney knives, kettles, and axes, the Eskimos became greatly interested, and one of them ran off to call the rest of the tribe. Presently they were all down at the sea shore looking over the native boats, or kayacks. Corporal McCarthy picked out one serviceable looking kayack, and two umiacks, or large boats, for the dogs and supplies. The kayack was about twenty feet long and twenty inches wide, covered with water proofed skins, and made to seat one person in a hole in the center, over which was a flap that could be buttoned around the chin, making the boat almost water tight, even though it were capsized. The umiacks were, however, flat-bottomed, hollow, and were ordinarily used in transporting women, children, and household goods by water. Corporal McCarthy gave the Eskimo owners a large collection of knives, pots and hatchets for the boats and they seemed very well pleased with the trade. “I’ll take the kayack,” instructed Corporal McCarthy. “Sloan, you and the Indian lad take one of the umiacks and Dick, Sandy, and Sipsa the other. If we get a move on we can get our equipment loaded before Mistak gets too much of a start. He took his dogs so we’ll have to take ours.” Not more than a half hour later Dick and Sandy and the Eskimo guide put to sea in their umiack, a crude sail of caribou hide stiffening in the breeze, while they plied a paddle to add to their speed. Constable Sloan and Toma followed immediately in the other umiack, while the Corporal settled himself in the kayack, the last of the three. Corporal McCarthy soon passed the heavily loaded umiacks in his faster and lighter boat and signaled them to follow him. “Watch out for the ice bergs and floes,” called the corporal. “If you see a walrus, don’t shoot unless you’re attacked.” The three boats strung out in a line headed toward the glacial island where they believed Mistak would land. In Dick and Sandy’s boat were half the dogs and the two sledges, along with the stoves and liquid fuel. It was a heavy load for the unwieldy umiack, and Dick was not long in discovering that the dangers in arctic navigation were not to be scoffed at. Though from a distance the water seemed free from ice, close at hand the bergs could be seen rolling along, either submerged, or just above the water. Sipsa took a position in the prow of the umiack, where, with a long pole, he fended off the larger ice blocks. In the stern Dick plied a paddle, while in the center Sandy took care of the dogs and saw that the cargo did not slip to one side and capsize the craft. All went well until they reached rougher water a quarter mile from the shore. Here an ocean current carried them eastward in spite of all they could do. Sandy fashioned himself a paddle from a snow shoe covered with a piece of seal skin, and did all he could to help Dick in the uneven struggle, but they moved steadily eastward toward a low headland that marked that boundary of the bay. The island that was their destination now lay several miles northwest of them, and a floe separated the two umiacks. Corporal McCarthy was having all he could do to manage his kayack, which was being considerably buffeted about by the waves and ice. “Maybe we’ll strike another current when we get close to that headland east of us,” called Dick from the stern. “I hope so,” replied Sandy dubiously. “This sail isn’t doing us much good now though. The wind seems to have gone down suddenly.” At that moment Sipsa, the Eskimo guide, rammed his pole at a submerged ice berg, and the pole slipped down into the water, forcing Sipsa to lose his balance. Dick’s cry of warning did no good. The Eskimo did the best he could to keep his balance, then toppled head foremost into the chilly water. “Quick, help him in, Sandy!” cried Dick, “while I hold the boat as steady as I can.” Sandy dropped his paddle and hurried to the prow where Sipsa was struggling about in the water. The Eskimo still retained a tight grip on his pole, which had been the cause of his fall, and Sandy got a grip on this. Soon Sipsa crawled, gasping and gurgling, into the umiack. “Whew, close shave that!” exclaimed Sandy. “And maybe he’ll freeze to death from that wetting,” Dick added. “Sandy, you’d better get one of the heaters started so he can dry off.” But Sipsa, hardy Eskimo that he was, made it known, by various signs, that he needed no heater, and took up his former position as if nothing had happened. While the ducking might have been fatal for Dick or Sandy, it meant little to the guide since the season was what he called summer. Once off the headland the current swept them northward as they had hoped, and also a breeze sprang up from the open sea. The sail filled and they began to make time toward the island. The floe which had separated the umiacks had passed on and Dick and Sandy could see Toma and Constable Sloan coming along safely a quarter mile behind. Corporal McCarthy was within speaking distance again and his voice boomed out over the water. “Watch out for walrus! There’s a big bull in here somewhere. Steer clear of him if you can.” The moment was a tense one for Dick and Sandy. Many a story they had heard of these giant inhabitants of the Polar Sea, and to meet one in his native haunts was something they feared, yet hoped to experience. Dick’s eyes were fixed upon the water near at hand when something dark welled up out of the clear blue depths and shot past the boat. “There he is!” he cried. “Sure it was a walrus?” Sandy hazarded breathlessly. “It must have been. It had big flippers and I think I saw tusks like an elephant’s.” “Maybe it was your imagination.” But what happened next assured Sandy that Dick had not been using his imagination. A dark form heaved up out of the water almost under Sipsa’s ice pole. The umiack rocked dangerously and nearly upset the Eskimo. The boys got a clear look at the walrus this time for just a moment as the huge creature reared out of the water and looked at them before it sunk out of sight in a whirlpool of bubbles. Sandy snatched up his rifle, but Dick warned him to hold fire until it was absolutely necessary. “Was that the walrus?” called Corporal McCarthy backing water with his paddle. “You bet it was,” Dick shouted, “and if he’d been two feet nearer he’d have turned us over—hey!” Dick said no more for at that instant the umiack, with its heavy load, was hoisted upward out of the water from the impact of a powerful body underneath. Sipsa tumbled backward from the prow, falling in among the whimpering dogs. Sandy and Dick clung to their seats while the boat dropped back to the water with a heave and splash. Fortunately, the umiack settled to an even keel without taking in too much water. But scarcely had they recovered from the nearly disastrous effects of the walrus’s first attack, when Sipsa shouted a warning from the stern. “There he is again—coming at us from the front!” shouted Sandy, throwing up his rifle as Dick snatched up his own. As Dick took aim at the rushing mass of fur, tusks, and flippers, he saw Corporal McCarthy level his rifle from the kayack. The three rifles boomed almost as one. The walrus, hit hard, swerved and rolled in his mad attack, and in a whirl of water sank out of sight, leaving a red blot in the water behind him. “He’s been wounded badly, if not killed,” said Sandy pointing at the blood in the water. “I hope he’ll leave us alone anyway, but if he don’t——” Dick tightened his grip on his rifle. For several minutes they watched, guns ready, for a renewal of the bull walrus’s attack, but the water disclosed no angry monster. “I guess he’s had enough,” called Corporal McCarthy, “let’s get going. Do you see what’s coming up from the east?” Dick and Sandy looked as the policeman directed, and their hearts jumped as if a hundred walruses were bearing down upon them, for, not a mile distant, a dense Arctic fog was floating swiftly toward them, like a wall of gray smoke. “A fog!” cried Dick. “Get that paddle, Sandy! If we ever get caught in that fog we’ll be lost sure!” |
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